{"id":2127365,"url":"https://alion.io/job/avarafoods-lead-reliability-engineer","title":"Lead Reliability Engineer","company":{"id":4372546,"name":"Avara Foods","domain":"avarafoods.co.uk","url":"https://alion.io/company/avarafoods","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Eploy","truth_index":null},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Hereford, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":60000,"max_usd":101000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":85},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-29T02:33:22Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-12","last_verified_at":"2026-10-14T07:05:09Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":15,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":15},"description":"About the Role:\nWho are we, and what do we do?\nYou may not have heard of us, but there’s a good chance you’ve enjoyed our products. Avara Foods is one of the UK’s leading food businesses, supplying chicken and turkey to the country’s major supermarkets and well-known restaurants.\nWe own and manage our entire supply chain - from farms to factory and all the way to the customer door - creating career opportunities across a wide range of functions. With major processing sites across England and Wales, our advanced Hereford facility is one of the most significant and technologically advanced food manufacturing sites in the UK.\nProcessing up to 2 million birds per week and employing over 1,500 talented people, the Hereford site continues to invest heavily in automation and innovation to maintain our reputation as a trusted leader in fresh food manufacturing.\nAbout the Role\nDue to ongoing investment and growth at our Hereford site, we’re looking for an experienced and driven Lead Reliability to join our Engineering Team.\nThis is a key leadership role, responsible for driving reliability, asset performance, and long-term engineering excellence across the site. You’ll lead a small team of Reliability Engineers and work closely with the Engineering Reliability manager and the maintenance operations team, to deliver strategic reliability improvements and optimise asset lifecycle management.\nThis role combines technical depth with leadership influence, ideal for someone ready to take the next step in their reliability or maintenance career.\nAs a Reliability Engineer you will be working Monday to Friday 08:00-16.30 (flexibility required to support 24/7 operations)\nWhat will you be doing as a Lead Reliability Engineer?\nAs the Lead Reliability Engineer, you will be accountable for developing, implementing, and sustaining the site’s reliability strategy to improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), reduce downtime, and enhance asset care.\nYou’ll ensure that maintenance and reliability practices are aligned with site priorities and engineering KPIs, supporting operational excellence through data-driven decisions and proactive engineering leadership.\nKey Responsibilities\nLead and manage the Reliability Team, ensuring effective delivery of asset performance, maintenance planning, and reliability projects.\nAct as lead for reliability and asset care, championing continuous improvement across site.\nDevelop and sustain proactive maintenance strategies, including predictive and condition-based maintenance, to improve equipment availability and reduce unplanned downtime.\nAnalyse performance and downtime data to identify and eliminate root causes of equipment failure.\nCollaborate with the wider Engineer Team to coordinate planned maintenance, improvement activities, and engineering support during production.\nSupport the Engineering Reliability Manager in the development and execution of the site’s maintenance and reliability roadmap.\nMaintain the office, reliability- and outside areas to high standard, ensuring regular checks are conducted and satisfactory feedback is received from GMP/WPW audits.\nLead cross-functional reliability reviews, ensuring effective communication between Engineering, Operations, Planning, and technical teams.\nManage contractor and OEM support, ensuring all work complies with site safety, technical, and legislative standards.\nEnsure all rectification actions identified on service reports are followed up and completed in a timely manner.\nIdentify the training needs of the team in order to coach, train and develop the team to provide the opportunities to develop to their potential.\nOversee asset care documentation, including PM reviews, calibration schedules, and PUWER assessments.\nLead or support capital and improvement projects, ensuring reliability principles are built into design and implementation.\nWhat you’ll need to be successful:\nEssential:\nHND or above in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, or related discipline)\nProven experience in reliability, maintenance, or engineering leadership in an FMCG or manufacturing environment\nStrong understanding of maintenance systems (CMMS), asset management, and performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR)\nDemonstrable leadership, coaching, and influencing skills\nExcellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication abilities\nAbility to manage multiple priorities and work effectively across teams\nDesirable:\nExperience leading engineering teams or projects in a large-scale manufacturing site\nReliability tools knowledge (RCM, FMEA, TPM)\nNEBOSH or IOSH qualification\nCAD experience and contractor management exposure\nThe benefits of working for Avara Foods:\nAs a Lead Reliability Engineer, you’ll enjoy a secure, supportive, and progressive working environment where your contribution and achievements are recognised and rewarded.\nWe offer comprehensive training and continuous professional development as you build your long-term career with us. You can also look forward to benefits including:\n6% Pension\n31 Days Holiday\nLife Assurance\nPrivate Medical Health Cover\nSubsidised Canteen\nFree Staff Parking\nWellbeing and lifestyle benefits, including discounts with major retailers and access to health resources\nWhat happens after you apply?\nAfter you’ve applied, you’ll be contacted by a member of our Resourcing Team based at our Hereford site to discuss your application and CV further. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask any questions about the role and what it’s like to work with us.\nIf you’re ready to lead reliability excellence in one of the UK’s most advanced food manufacturing sites, apply today!\nDue to Bird Welfare, it is essential that you do not own any Avian Pets, Poultry, or Porcine.\nWe are committed to being an equal opportunities employer.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5789,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Professional development"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Farming & Agriculture","Food & Beverages","Veterinary Medicine"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-09T00:39:27Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":55,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.738,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":15,"expected_fill_days":19,"reasons":["conf:5","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-10-14T06:34:16Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/avarafoods-lead-reliability-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/avarafoods-lead-reliability-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-14T09:45:37Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":10995,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-15T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4372546},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4372546"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Favarafoods-lead-reliability-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Favarafoods-lead-reliability-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Favarafoods-lead-reliability-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/avarafoods-lead-reliability-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Favarafoods-lead-reliability-engineer"}]}